Started off really strong, I made a move into the lead 20 seconds into the race and held onto it for a few minutes, I held onto it up the hill after the first obstacle, then we took a dive into the barbed wire crawl. They had artificially created a muddy area to crawl through by spraying water all over, I let one of the pros ahead of me so I could follow his lead and take a better route. That was a mistake, people began passing and I had a knee thrust into my side and someone swiped out my arm and I ended up with a face and mouth full of mud. I exited the barbed wire in about 20th/25th and started picking people off again but the trail suddenly got really narrow making it very difficult to get ahead of anyone, I made small progress here and there but it was taking me a long time to get back up to the lead pack. My gloves got ruined in the muddy crawl and my rope burns opened back up pretty early on in the race, wasn't gonna let that hold me back though. Unfortunately in mile 5 just as the trail started opening up again I sprained my ankle, it twisted and popped and I felt a tear as i went down. My race was over, nothing I could do now. As the pain began to subside I lay there watching the field pass my by, knowing there was no way I was going to run anymore that day. It was a frustrating moment, all the summers training had built up to this. I was going to fail, not only not take top 10 but not finish the race. I remembered why I was doing Spartan in the first place,I got up as soon as my ankle calmed down enough for me to feel what was going on with it, I couldn't move it around much but it supported my weight alright. I decided to make my way through however much of the last 3 or 4 miles of the course as I could. As many of the remaining obstacles couldn't be done with a sprained ankle, I had to do over 200 burpees. It was really frustrating and annoying, my hands and leg were in really bad shape and the rest of my body was cut up everywhere. It took a long time to get through the last few miles of that course on a sprained ankle but eventually it happened. It wasn't what I was hoping for, but it was an exceptionally difficult race with some very crappy and unexpected difficulties, and I got through it. I can't control everything that happens in a race, but I can control my attitude and the effort I give. Today might not have been as fast a race as my body is capable of when healthy, but I did my best and when the goal switched from qualify for worlds to finish, I accomplished that goal. And in the end pushing through all that physical torment was a rewarding experience, I didn't have to look back on the race with regret and disappointment afterwards, I can say I'm proud of my effort and proud of not quitting when it may have been far easier to have done so. |